Exploring identity in self-portraiture: looking back in time

A few weeks ago I visited the Photographers Gallery in London to see the exhibition Feminist Avant-Garde of the 1970s which runs till the end of January 2017. Some of the images brought to mind work I did on identity and self-portraiture at college in the late 80s and early 90s. The college was called … Read more

Glow

In the last few months I’ve been increasingly drawn to looking at the way the sun illuminates objects, noticing light and shade. Maybe this is because I’ve been regularly life drawing and painting, in natural light when possible. There’s also a desire to seize the warmth and colour of sunlight, to balance out the grey, … Read more

Facades in Rome: old and new signs of culture

A few weeks ago I visited Rome after a gap of many years.  I had wanted to revisit for a while, especially after seeing contemporary films set in Rome by several of my favourite Italian directors: Nanni Moretti, Gianni di Grigorio and Paolo Sorrentino. I was immediately struck by the architecture and monumentality of Rome, but … Read more

London’s Autumn Colours

I was privileged to go to Japan last November and witness autumn in several cities. That is a hard act to follow! However, London is teeming with beauty and colour at the moment, and I thought I’d show some images of urban nature that have caught my eye in the last few weeks. I’ve always … Read more

Back to the 80s and Greenham Common

I was looking through a box of old prints yesterday and came across a couple of photographs I’d taken at Greenham Common back in the early 80s. Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp was established to protest at nuclear weapons such as cruise missiles being based at the RAF site in Berkshire, England. The women’s camp began … Read more

is it a painting? street photography and ambiguity

A few days ago I printed and framed an image I’d taken this summer on a hot day in London. Here it is: When my husband saw it he asked me whether it was a painting. I realised I was pleased that the image had this ambiguity; that it could be perceived of as a … Read more

Top Hat

In the 1920s my paternal grandparents left Iran for Palestine before settling in the UK in 1928. Here’s a photograph from that era showing my grandparents all dressed up. David Aminoff, who I knew as BOBO is in a top hat and is holding a cane and his wife Dvora aka BIBI is wearing a fur coat … Read more

Seeing Faces: the phenomenon known as pareidolia

A few days ago I posted a photograph of an illusion – a found face I’d seen in a building facade in the process of demolition – on my Instagram feed, which is comprised exclusively of images taken with my mobile phone.  I also took several versions of the found face with a camera – … Read more

Let it all hang out: observations on washing & identity

I take a lot of pictures of building facades and over the years some of these have been because of the juxtaposition of the architecture with the personal  artefacts displayed. On a recent trip to Venice my eye was drawn to what seemed a quite surreal combination of an old weather-beaten apartment and professional, ultra-modern … Read more

Beauty & Sadness: a rainy day in London

A few months ago I read the book Beauty and Sadness by the Japanese author Yasunari Kawabata. The title came to mind again when I was thinking about the essence of the following images. I took these photographs the other day, gravitating towards beauty and nature in a week where the news has been very depressing; full … Read more